Week 1, Day 1

We survived the first day!!!  As expected, it was a long day.  Gavin had four sessions today, and talk about boot camp!  Poor Gavin handled today so well.  I was amazed at his excitement to get in the chair and “take his bites” each time.  Of course he had the whole place talking about that “cute little man” by the end of the day! J

We started the first two sessions with me going through our normal “exercise” routine and feeding Gavin while Dr. Clawson and another therapist watched from another room.  They needed to get a baseline for what feeding is like at home and justify the need for us being there.  Of course, I wanted to show off Gavin’s best side and brought the four foods we have been successful with…yogurt, a banana/applesauce puree, a pear/applesauce puree, and pureed carrots.  Dr. Clawson thought it best to try some new purees as well to fully capture the raging battle that feeding can be, and boy did they get their money’s worth for the show!!  My sweet little boy turned into a monster!  He threw toys, tried to hit me, screamed, kicked, and told me “No Mommy! No, no, I do not like that!!  Turn that spoon upside down!!!”  It was REAL fun!  Needless to say, they did not kick us out day one.  We have some issues to work through.

The next two sessions were with two different therapists.  I got to sit and watch them almost effortlessly feed Gavin those foods that I had brought that he actually tolerates.  It didn’t seem quite fair that they got to breeze through the easy meal and stuck me with the hard stuff!!  I guess they were trying to gage his actual skills at this point.  I’m happy to say that I think he at least passed the skills portion of the evaluation pretty well!  He only gagged once, but was able to recover quickly.  The therapists were all amazing and Gavin warmed up to them within minutes…which is hard to do with GavinJ

Our lives have begun to revolve around toys!  We are happily moved into “The Clown House” (a.k.a. The Ronald McDonald House) where there are TONS of toys.  Then we go to the clinic with a playroom that is also full of more toys.  Whenever we needed to go back to the house or to the clinic, I simply had to remind Gavin of a toy at the other location and we were off!  Hopefully there are enough toys between the two places that the novelty doesn't wear off in two months!

Tomorrow we will meet with Dr. Clawson and the therapists to see what their plan is for Gavin.  I am anxious to hear what they think!  We also meet with a pediatrician who will be following Gavin medically while we’re here.  I’m hopeful that a lingering ear infection has cleared up completely.  He seems to have gotten over all the congestion associated with the bug, which should be a good sign!

We have gotten fairly settled into the Ronald McDonald House now.  There is another mom and her 20 month old son staying here who are also in the feeding clinic.  She is so nice and sat with me for a while last night to talk about their experiences thus far.  Her son was weaned off his button after the first week!!!  The rest of the parents here have babies in the NICU.  It is so sad to hear about what their sweet little guys are going through.  It just reminds me how lucky we are to have a relatively healthy little boy.  Volunteers have brought in dinner both nights, and all of the residence sit at the same table, so it’s nice to not be alone for meals.

Sorry, no pictures today.  I took a bunch on my phone to share, but unfortunately, my phone battery died this afternoon and now my phone will not charge again!!! L  What horrible timing after our first day!!!  At least there was Skype so we were still able to talk to Eric.  Hopefully I will be able to get it fixed tomorrow.  I’m just happy we made it through the day!  Despite the dramatic outbursts during our feeding session together, Gavin and I are doing relatively well.  As long as I play toys with him, he’ll be my friend foreverJ